


All In

by The_Muses_of_Mars



Category: The Thousandth Floor Series - Katharine McGee
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22340338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Muses_of_Mars/pseuds/The_Muses_of_Mars
Summary: Everything on the roof might have ended differently, if self-preservation had been bolstered by a little help from Nadia. (An alternate ending to "The Thousandth Floor." Spoilers if you haven't finished the book!)
Relationships: Avery Fuller/Atlas Fuller
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	All In

Watt had rushed to Avery’s apartment to stop Leda from launching an attack against the one girl he’d ever had genuine feelings for. He had never expected to find Leda launching another girl off the roof instead.

“We have to get help,” said a girl he didn’t know.

“I’ll do it,” Avery offered bravely, in spite of her tears. Watt saw how pale she looked. The girl that had been arguing with Leda before she was thrust from the rooftop to her death had been Avery’s long-time friend, Eris. Suddenly Watt was filled with anger. Whatever had happened between himself and Avery, he wouldn’t have wished this kind of pain on her.

“Help?” Leda shouted. “ _Help?_ Eris is _dead_. There’s no help for her now.” Her eyes were wild. She was on something. Maybe a cocktail of somethings.

“We can’t just leave her like that,” Avery said, her voice cracking. “We need to tell someone, call the authorities.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Leda said, stepping forward threateningly. Avery couldn’t help but take a step back, but before Watt could intercede, the other girl—Rylin Meyers, Nadia informed him quickly—caught hold of Avery’s arm, lest she suffer the same fate Eris had.

“I’ll do it,” Watt said, sensing Avery now looked a little too afraid to try.

“If you so much as think about it,” warned Leda, “I’ll tell the authorities about Nadia— _all_ about her.”

The way her brow arched and her tone of voice implied she knew more than Watt imagined she could possibly know. She had drugged him, encouraged him to drink more than he had intended. How much had he told her? Had he really told her everything about Nadia? He swallowed nervously.

“And about _your_ pilfering habits,” Leda added, turning on the dark-haired girl, Rylin. “And about _your_ relationship with your brother,” she said with finality to Avery, crossing her arms with a dark, narrowed gaze.

The four of them stood frozen in time. Clearly Leda knew things about each of them, things that could destroy them all. And there was no doubt in Watt’s mind that she would make good on her threat to spill their secrets if she thought any of them were considering spilling hers.

“We’ll just say Eris tripped,” Leda decided, sounding strangely calm. “She was drinking. This _is_ a party, after all. We were all here, and we all saw the same thing. The four of us are on the same page, right?”

But she wasn’t counting the fifth member of their rooftop party: Nadia.

Nadia quickly offered up an additional solution to the problem Watt had gotten himself entangled in. And while in the back of his mind he was acutely aware that this was the exact reason why artificial intelligence had been made illegal, at the forefront he could see that it was the perfect—the only—option.

“No,” he said, taking a step to block the escape route to the ladder that led back downstairs into the apartment.

“Watt…” Avery pleaded softly. Eris had been one of her closest friends, and while Watt could see it was tearing her apart inside to even consider covering up her murder at Leda’s hands, he knew that it was likely Avery would do _anything_ to protect Atlas. She may not be sent to jail for having that sort of relationship with her own brother, but she would go from being the most popular girl in school to a social pariah…probably for life. If her secret got out, it would destroy her. And Watt wasn’t about to let that happen.

“If we’re all in agreement,” he said carefully, looking to each Avery and Rylin, “then there’s no witness to the contrary.”

Leda misunderstood his intentions and smirked.

But Rylin got his meaning. “We can’t just… _kill_ her,” she said shakily.

“What?!” Leda cried, panic rising in her throat.

Watt kicked closed the trap door covering the ladder and stepped onto it. “No witnesses,” he said again.

He could see the moment his plan clicked into place for Avery. Instead of looking shocked or appalled, her gaze turned hard. Then she slowly lowered her chin in a nod of agreement.

But Rylin appeared to need more convincing.

“Our secrets aren’t Leda’s to reveal,” Watt said insistently. “Our business is our own. I’m not going to let some drugged-out murderer ruin my life.” _Or either of you, either,_ he added silently to himself. “What do you say, Rylin? It has to be all of us, or none of us.”

Rylin looked terrified, glancing between Leda, who was now shaking with fear, and Watt, who was growing calmer and calmer as he could see the final decision looming on the horizon. Watt didn’t know what Leda had on Rylin, and he didn’t want to. All he needed to know was that Rylin was scared enough to protect herself—or someone she loved—the way Avery and he had to. She must, because she finally nodded her assent.

“You—you can’t,” Leda stammered, taking an unfortunate step back before changing her mind and trying to stand her ground, arms dropping to her sides and fingers balling into fists, ready to fight. “That’s murder!”

“What you did to Eris was murder,” Avery spat back at her. The adrenaline was going to push her to act, Watt could tell.

The three of them stepped slowly towards her. Leda let out a cry of terror and then rushed forward, intending to push past them and raise the trap door to the ladder, to climb down it and back into the safety of the apartment. But panic and the drugs and alcohol pumping through her system had made her clumsy. She faltered, while they were resolved. They formed a cage around her, and she couldn’t fight all three of them. Not physically. But maybe she could reach Avery emotionally.

“How could you even think of killing me? You’re my best friend! Aves!” she screamed, using Atlas’s pet name for his sister—his lover—in the hopes it would weaken Avery’s heart. Instead, it had the opposite effect.

The three of them pressed in on Leda, forcing her to the edge of the balcony. Watt reached for her hips, beginning to lift her into the air. Rylin grabbed her under the knees, drawing her legs up. And, at the last moment, Avery shoved hard on Leda’s shoulders as she shouted, “Don’t call me ‘Aves’!”

And, just like that, Leda went over the ledge with a final shriek to ease their worries and end their fears.


End file.
